Forerunner® 255, GPS Running Smartwatch, Advanced Insights, Long-Lasting Battery, Slate Gray

This is a great watch. I've had it for over two years now and just getting around to writing a review because I wanted to see if it stood the test of time. It does. Pros: it's not too big, all the features work flawlessly (music, gps, etc), and most importantly the battery life is spectacular and has not degraded in the years I have owned it. I wear this watch every day and I only charge it maybe once a month. The GPS is accurate, but I did not use it as much as I thought I might (I am a geology student and have to take coordinates regularly, real coordinates, not something on a navigation app). The thing is my iPhone is just as accurate (using specialized geology apps) and much easier to use. I don't use any of my real GSP units either. Guess that is the state of the art of GPS. Cons: I think the rubber band they ship it with leave much to be desired. I bought an aftermarket band with a velcro closure and problem is solved. And, It really does take a while to figure out how to use everything. It is not exactly intuitive and I still get lost in the menus. I'd buy it again.

I LOVE this watch. I've been debating buying a running watch for so many years now and finally decided to do it. I have been doing marathon training and this watch has aided me plentifully. It has cool features when you record runs where it'll tell you every time you finish a "lap" which you can set the distance for - so during a long 10 mile run I have it set to tell me every time I finish 1 mile and what pace I finished it at. It also has cool badges you unlock when you run certain distances, and it will notify you every time you recorded a new personal best mile, 5k, 10k, half marathon, etc. during any long run. It displays a very accurate heartrate as well which I've tested multiple times and it's always within 5 of what I measure manually. You have to download Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect IQ on your phone which can then be used to download your favorite music app right to your watch (I use Spotify). From there, you can download your music/playlists/podcasts/audiobooks right to your watch. You can leave your phone at home then for long runs and just have your watch and your headphones with you; which is a lifesaver personally lol. The second you get back home from a run, it'll connect back to your phone and send the data over immediately. On your phone you can then see all your runs, as well as the pace, average heartrate, calories burned, and a few other cool measures. It can also record your sleep and give feedback on the quality of it, length, etc. but I have yet to use this feature. I sleep like a rock and can easily tell how well I slept when I wake up haha. I highly recommend this product. If you are on the fence as I was for so long, GET IT

This watch is amazing at helping you set and keep pace let’s say you want a 8 minute mile you can set a fast timer and slow timer that will vibrate and let you know if you’re to fast or to slow and it gives you your vo2 max along with so much more 100% worth every penny. It also tells you your resting heart rate and your fitness age along with average heart rate during an activity. It can also help you on your cadence with cadence beeps to get your stride where you should be to be efficient as possible. Then throw on a bumper and a screen cover and it’s basically everything proof 👍🏻👍🏻

I am not a runner but I have been considering a Garmin watch for a long time because I am usually an active hiker. I haven't been as active for a while and I feel like the wellness tracking this device offers is helping me back on track. This has been one of those purchases that I wish I had pulled the trigger on sooner now that I have it. Combined with the web app I really love the amount of detail that I can get and the variety of things I can easily track. I've found the GPS tracking on my longer walks to be very accurate so far. I also enjoy the variety of customization options both native to the watch and through Connect IQ score. I know that the sleep, stress, body battery, etc, are not the most accurate, but they are still a great tool for getting a rough idea of where I can improve. For me, being called out by something as neutral as data is very helpful and I appreciate being able to see trends and make note of things that I could change for the better. I do have to take some of the body measurements with a grain of salt because of medications that I take, like the HRV-based stress readings (always high for me), so you should take that into consideration if you are prescribed any kind of medication that either stimulates or sedates. I am so glad I went with the smaller model, I am a petite person and it feels like the perfect size for my wrist. I don't find it to be obtrusive at all. I don't love the silicone band and went with an alternative that looks better at the office and doesn't bother my skin as much.

I love the Forerunner 255S. Most importantly, the classic always-on screen is the best feature, and that's something they took away in the newer models. In the newer models, you have to pivot your wrist to get the motion sensor to turn on the display just to check the time, which is actually more annoying than you'd think. It's way more convenient to be able to see the time without doing anything unnatural. Secondly, I'd argue the lack of a touchscreen (compared to the Venu's) is actually a feature. When I bought this 2 years ago, I was coming from a touchscreen Garmin watch, and I was afraid I'd miss the touchscreen. I was wrong. The buttons are just as quick and easy to use, and if it's raining you can still use it, and most importantly if you're wearing a rain jacket, it doesn't randomly "touch" things on the screen (that would happen with my previous touchscreen watch when the rain jacket was wet and touching the screen). The battery life is ridiculously good, I only have to charge this like every 6 days and I use it for occasional 3 mile weekday runs and always keep it connected to my phone as a smartwatch for text messages. For longer hikes, the battery life is also ridiculously good. I'd struggle to find a reason to pay much more than what this watch costs, I think this watch is the perfect watch for 90% of people!

I really am enjoying this watch. I'll start off by saying it I used to have an Apple watch but no longer have an iPhone so I was looking for an alternative. I've used Fitbit and apple watches and feel they are accurate at tracking things like heart rate and GPS. This watch feels the most accurate out of both of those. The Garmin app isn't as pretty and easy to use as Fitbit but the quality and information is so much better. Also the customization of this watch is insane. From multiple backgrounds to the way you can set up what information you want to see during any given workout is awesome. As you can tell by my watch face there is a great amount of information just by looking at the first screen and more if you scroll around. This is the 46mm case size and I really think it's the perfect balance between being able to see the information and not being too bulky. Obviously the tranflective display is not as pleasing as an AMOLED display like and apple watch, galaxy watch, pixel watch, or Garmins own venu or epix watches but it honestly is not that bad. Also I've heard of bad backlight reviews on the Garmin watches where the screen looks washed out and blue when the backlight is on and I think I got a good one. It's almost been two weeks and I'm still at 67% battery life. I have yet to swim with the watch but it feels like good quality and the gps has been accurate on my runs. I was thinking of getting a Fenix 6 since they are much cheaper now but the features and less bulkiness of this Garmin Forerunner 255 sold me. The gray color is okay but I might end up going with a different band style and color in the future. The video taken with the backlight on is with the brightness at 20%. Take your fitness goals to the next level and get this watch!

BACKGROUND I am a former serious marathon and ultra runner, cyclist, swimmer, and Ironman triathlete now in my later middle-age period with revised expectations and goals. I've been a Garmin user since the original GPS "watch" that required an arm band receiver, and have used the Forerunner 10 and 235 as well. I had no complaints about the capability or performance of the Forerunner 235, but was interested in the expanded health tracking features of the new 255 model. I also listen to music and podcasts on Spotify quite often, and the Music features of this model appealed to me. OVERALL IMPRESSIONS AND HEALTH MONITORING First, I am impressed with the sleep tracking of this model, which I find mostly accurate except sometimes when it doesn't distinguish the difference between waking and getting up. I find that tracking HRV (heart rate variability) is a very good indicator of sleep quality in addition to the usual deep sleep, light sleep, REM, awake, etc. markers. This also correlates very well with a feature I especially appreciate, that being Body Battery. I have a standalone pulse oximeter and have not activated that function on this watch. WORKOUT AND GPS TRACKING As for GPS and workout performance and tracking, I have found the unit to perform flawlessly thus far, down to the side of the road/lane on which I have run or cycled. GARMIN COACH I have a deep background and understanding of training load and structure, and have coached triathlon professionally in the past. I have also used sites/apps like Training Peaks as a tool, to good effect. I am currently getting back on the road after being sidelined for a long time with back issues and set the goal of completing a half marathon to motivate me and serve as a shorter term goal. Curious about the coaching functions included with this watch, I signed up for one of the plans that is available through the Garmin Connect app, and so far I have found it to be quite good at suggesting workouts and adjusting load and expectations based on completed workouts. It's a really cool bonus for me to have at my current level of fitness, and I would recommend the watch to newer endurance athletes over similar products based on this function alone. BATTERY LIFE Battery life is quite adequate and lasts for days without recharging under normal activity. A very nice bonus aspect is that it recharges very quickly using the supplied connector. SOFTWARE The only negative I've experienced so far is with the software and Music functions. The Garmin Connect app works great and I love being able to configure the displays. As for Music, I am disappointed that the only way to load music to the watch is via the Garmin Express app, which is clunky and outdated. But worse, this app has crashed every single time I try to access the Music Apps tab to connect Spotify. This has happened on both my MacBook Air and iMac, so perhaps it's an issue with iOS. It is due to this issue and the inability to take advantage of having Spotify on the watch that causes me to deduct one star, and I can say without reservation that if I had purchased the regular (non-Music) version of this watch I would give it a 5-star rating. SIZING & CONCLUSION I purchased the smaller (41mm) version of this watch simply because the larger (46mm) size wasn't available. It feels a little small, but I can live with it. If I were to go back and order any of the 255 variations (assuming equal availability) I would definitely get the larger version and probably skip the Music edition, although I'm still hopeful that will be resolved with a software or firmware update. I would recommend this watch to anyone serious about monitoring their health and fitness, who likes to get out on the road and structure their training. It is an excellent training tool and aid, and a great motivator, and although the Music functions do not work at this time for me and I would prefer the larger iteration, I am still very pleased with this watch.

I’ve owned Garmins before and find the ability to objectively gauge and plan your training is a powerful tool. This watch takes it to the next level compared to my old ones. You get essentially the Forerunner 265 here minus the Amoled screen and the training readiness metric. Here’s a hint, look at your body battery and recovery metric and you have pretty much training readiness nailed down. The biometric sensors of the 255 and 265 are the same. Activity tracking is light years beyond Fitbit and also stock Apple Watched. Hell, having 5 buttons blows any Apple Watch out of the water for running. You can just hit an activity and go, or take a recommended workout. You can also make your own routines and upload to to the watch. I had some workouts from when I last owned a Garmin that I designed 10 years ago, and was able to upload and run them. I principally use it for running and strength training. For running I can’t find any faults for me. For strength training my complaint is the list of strength exercises is missing common exercises, like any read deltoid exercises…. It has an exhaustive list of odd ones too. Worst of all, you can’t make new ones. You can just use an existing one that is close enough and make a note that exercise X is really the one you did…. The watch also does a good job tracking indoor runs and both indoor and outdoor walks. It is pretty accurate in automatically detecting activities like impromptu walks, as well. The MIPs screen is amazing outdoors and way better at night when you would don’t want to blast your face looking at the time. In mixed-level indoor lighting, it lacks compared to AMOLED. It doesn’t have the pretty colors nor the contrast indoors, but I like a more serious looking watch anyway and find AMOLED to look like a game. The battery life is amazing. To get this sort of life on the 265 you have to let face go dark when inactive and use gestures to wake it. Not a big deal, but nice to be able to see the watch with a side glimpse without having to raise hand all the time. Customization is great. I downloaded a watch face that allows me to put all the metrics I need and have the time highly visible. Data screens are also very customizable. I have downloaded a custom data screen for running and for strength training to supplement the default screens. This isn’t a Pixel watch or an Apple Watch. As a smart watch it has limited ability and that’s fine. It reliably shows notifications. If you have your phone with you, you can initiate contact with an emergency contact. For example, you can send a message to come get picked up. If you have a compatible bank or credit card, you can use Garmin pay. I do find my financial institutions don’t currently support it, though. The music functionality is flawless. I use it with Spotify and a pair of JBL earbuds. It’s nice to be able to run with just the watch and earbuds and not have to carry a phone for music. I was able to use my ANT heart rate strap and foot pod from 13 years ago with no issues. They sync quickly and stay synced. The onboard wrist heart rate and running dynamics functionality have been very good when I haven’t used my ANT accessories. So there is no need to get an HR strap, but if you have or want one, they work flawlessly. The Garmin ecosystem; the watch, Garmin Connect App, and the website are great. Highly customizable and reliable. I had most recently used Fitbit and found the experience with the app and its website to be headed in a negative direction this last year. Overall, I highly recommend this watch. If the price difference between this and the 265 is around $50, it’s a hard decision. It boils down to how you feel about AMOLED versus MIPS, and maybe the chance that 265 feature set continues to get updated a bit longer than the 255. When the price delta is above $50…. The 265 becomes hard to justify and the 255 is the obvious choice. To reiterate, training readiness isn’t worth much at all. It’s a combination of other metrics that are already on both watches. So the decision is simply AMOLED vs MIPS display versus price.

Great watch! Interface, response, battery lifeand build quality are all perfect. I used FR 35, 45s and 55 in the past, when compared to this, l can tell the difference. FR 265 seems cool, but not as good as this one :)

used to own garmin 245 Music. switch to 255 as old one lost. bigger screen, and nice apps. turn on bluetooth, and hopefully it can last 9 days.

Produto excelente, Garmin não decepciona.

Todo correcto, ha tardado en llegar 2 dias menos de lo previsto, el reloj perfecto, va como tiene que ir, gps, mapas, etc. muy bien

Brilliant watch. Can do anything you want it to basically! I just need to figure out how to turn the training suggestions off, otherwise exactly what I was after!